


Split my lip and kiss it better

by Ellstra



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Soft Kylux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellstra/pseuds/Ellstra
Summary: Hux gets into an argument with three boys twice his size and Ben has to fight them to save him. Again. Maybe one day Ben will learn how to resist Hux's smiles. But not today.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ellie1125](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie1125/gifts).



> An early Christmas gift for my lovely namesake [Elizzz](http://elizzz1125.tumblr.com) who asked for something like this back in October. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and happy end of year to those who don't.

There is a circle of people in the yard, watching something in their midst. Ben walks closer to take a look at what caught their attention and hopes it’s not what he thinks it is. People duck out of his way, watching him with a peculiar expression, which doesn’t particularly calm him. He hears the fight before he sees it and groans.  _ Not again _ , he thinks, pushing through the last line of people.

“No really, I think the educational system is either deficient or very magnanimous to permit you to go to school with regular people. Either way, it is atrocious that you’re allowed to interact with us.”

Hux is standing proudly with one hand on his hip and the other gesturing like a phony aristocrat. He has a smug expression on his face, a small smirk curving his lips. There are three boys opposite him, some Kylo doesn’t know and would prefer to keep it that way. The way he sees it, he won’t be given much choice.

“Do you think if you spit all these fancy words at me I’ll think you’re smart or something?” one of the guys says. Ben can see the grin on Hux’s face turning victorious.

“I can hardly anticipate as much from you, I could be making words up on the spot and you wouldn’t be able to tell.”

“Are you saying I’m dumb?” the boy huffs. 

“I am not,” Hux protests with feigned shock, “ _ you  _ just did though.”

Ben hears gasps and whispering behind himself. He’s thinking hard about the possibilities he has to avoid unnecessary violence when it proves to be too late. 

“And you’re so smart, right?”

“Incidentally, yes, I am,” Hux shrugged, “thank you for pointing that out. Now that we’ve settled this matter, I would like to return back to class.”

“You ain’t going anywhere, pal,” a second, taller boy said, “we’ll teach you a lesson about bragging.”

“That is hardly necessary,” Hux replies and his confidence wavers. Ben knows him well enough to notice the little changes in his body language, even if Hux tries hard to hide his reactions. 

“You know, that’s where you’re wrong,” the second boy says again. He seems a lot smarter than the one in front who did the talking before. 

“I don’t think so,” Hux says and tries to retreat without turning his back to the boys.

“Where do you think you’re going, you fucker?” 

They approach Hux and the crowd takes a step back at the same time. Ben sighs. Hux finally notices him and looks at him apologetically, as if a smile could make up for the trouble they’ll both be in soon because Hux just can’t keep his mouth shut. The worst thing is that it does only take Hux’s smile for Ben to forgive him

“Hey, assholes,” Ben says in an almost tired voice. The boys turn to look at him and frown.

“What do you want, Solo?”

“Get out of here,” Ben tries. Who knows, it might actually work.

“You get out of here. This is between us and this piece of dirt,” one of the boys points his chin in Hux’s direction.

“As inconvenient as it is sometimes, I am obliged to fight his fights,” Ben replies, “I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules. You want to beat him, you’ll deal with me too.”

That was something incredibly noble and stupid and Ben wanted to slap himself for it. But as always, it took one glance at Hux’s surprised but delighted smile and Ben would have offered to go to war just to see more of it. 

“Fine,” the leader of the gang says, “We’ll beat you first.”

Ben catches Hux’s smirk. _ Either they have no idea who I am or they’re really stupid _ , he thinks and Hux obviously agrees. They boys turn to him, standing in what is probably supposed to be menacing posture. Hux watches from behind them and smiles gratefully at Ben again, just a little, not to give too much. He’s still afraid of appearing vulnerable, as if Ben isn’t completely head over heels for him. But then again, aren’t the smiles more rewarding if they come sparsely? 

Ben doesn’t remember much of the fight, he never does. He gets into a trance, only seeing Hux’s eyes fill with worry and, later, when Ben’s vision is obscured by a quickly swelling black-eye, relief. The boys laugh and sneer at first but shut up soon. They stagger away at last and Ben grins at Hux, blood from his split lip covering his front teeth. 

“You idiot,” they say at the same time. The gathered crowd is cheering and praising Ben for the good performance. 

“Get lost,” Hux hisses at them, “you’ve got your fun, now fuck off.”

He walks over to Ben and looks him over. There’s badly hidden affection in them and Ben thinks he’d fight every day just to see it again. 

“Thank you,” Hux whispers softly.

“You know, one day I’ll be too far to come to your rescue and you’ll get so beat up,” Ben replies and spits blood on the ground. 

“Gross,” Hux evaluates, “come, let’s get you cleaned up.”

The crowd has mostly dispersed but there are a few girls giving them odd looks and giggling. Hux ignores them but Ben feels his cheeks redden. He knows what they’re thinking, what made them giggle, and it’s not like that. Not officially anyway. He itches to kiss Hux right there in front of them, to hear them squeal. But he itches to kiss Hux all the time, nothing new on this front. 

“How do you always get into these fights anyway?” he asks to focus on something else.

“Well, they’re so dumb,” Hux shrugs as if it explains anything, “you know I’m allergic to dumb people.”

“Can’t you make do with thinking you’re better than them?”

“You know what allergy means, Ren? You can’t control your reaction.”

“Right,” Ben nods. Hux doesn’t want to argue if he used the nickname. Ben thinks of the time when they made it up. 

_ “My name’s dumb,” Ben says. They’re watching Die Hard 2, comfortably sprawled over the couch in the Solos’ living room, and Hux’s feet are cold against Ben’s shins.  _

_ “Really? You tell me your name is dumb?”  _

_ “Your name is atrocious. Mine is just boring.” _

_ “Right. It must be awful when no one turns to gape at you every first day of school just when your name is called,” Hux rolls his eyes and reaches for a handful of popcorn to the almost-empty bowl Ben is guarding. _

_ “I didn't, I already knew who the stuck-up idiot with this phony name was,” Ben remarks and collects a stray piece of popcorn Hux dropped. _

_ “Well good for you.” _

_ “You asked me if I was related to Dumbo. That was the first thing you said to me.” _

_ “In my defence, I'd never seen anyone with ears as big as yours. What was I supposed to think?” Hux feigns innocence, “Besides, I meant it as a compliment. I thought Dumbo was rather cool.” _

_ “You'll talk your way out of everything, won't you?” _

_ “I've been given a good brain and a sharp mouth, I ought to use it,” Hux shrugs, “So how about we come up with a nickname for you?” _

_ “You can't just come up with a name,” Ben frowns. _

_ “I can and I will,” Hux pouts, “How about Ren? It's almost the same as Ben but cooler.” _

_ “I guess Ren is fine,” Ben tries the sound in his mouth, “yeah, Ren is good.” _

_ “Fine. But it will be secret. Just yours and mine.” _

_ “Like a code?”  _

_ “Like a code,” Hux agrees.  _

Hux leads the way to the boys’ restroom on the first floor and Ben follows him, grinning at the people ducking out of his way. There is a couple of freshmen by the sinks but they flee as soon as Hux glares at them. Ben smirks.

“You’re really fierce. You inspire terror in the hearts of boys who hang out in the bathroom.”

“I don’t need them peering over my shoulder.”

“Are you jealous?” Ben blurts out. Hux flushes, absurdly, and shakes his head. 

“Please wash your mouth first, your teeth are terrifying,” he says instead. Ben frowns slightly, unsure what to make of this situation. He does as he’s told, running the water and taking some of it into his mouth before spitting it out. It’s pink against the white porcelain of the sink. Hux disappears among the stalls to get some toilet paper to wash Ben’s face with.

“They got me real bad this time, huh?” Ben asks as he watches himself in the mirror. His left eye is nearly closed and turning an ugly shade of dark violet, his lip is split and the skin on his left cheekbone is torn as well. There’s blood on the collar of his shirt. 

“Yeah. Sorry,” Hux mumbles as he appears in the mirror beside Ben.

“Apology accepted. I could have left you there.”

“No you couldn’t.”

“I could,” Ben shakes his head slightly, “but I wouldn’t.”

“That’s the same thing. Turn around.”

“Actually, it’s not,” Ben points out and hisses when Hux dabs his cheek with a damp piece of toilet paper, “If I couldn’t, where is the nobility of saving you?”

“You’re right, of course. You’re my hero,” Hux chuckles, but there’s sincerity in his eyes, and gratitude. 

“Do you know what the hero always gets?”

“A princess and a half of the kingdom to go with her?” 

“Well, that’s unnecessarily specific but correct I guess,” Ben shrugs, suddenly losing courage to explain what he meant. 

“I can’t give you a princess, I’m sure not even Amazon sells them,” Hux says and throws a ball of bloodied toilet paper into a bin and wets more of it to keep working on Ben’s face. 

“Right.”

“Did they hit you too hard or something? You’re not making any sense.”

“Forget about it.”

“Okay,” Hux says, sensing Ben’s discomfort, “so tell me, does my valiant warrior have time to play some videogames after this mess?”

“Your valiant warrior always has time to play videogames,” Ben replies, “when he’s not rescuing princesses.”

“Oh?” Hux makes a little choking noise, letting go of Ben to look at him properly, “Oh.” 

Ben gives him a crooked smile that pulls at his wounded lip and reopens the cut. Hux turns bright red, staring into Ben’s eyes as if seeing him for the first time. 

“You know, for someone so smart you sure are dumb,” Ben says.

“I never… I thought I was seeing things.”

“I tried to tell you subtly but it just didn’t work. I thought you just weren’t interested but didn’t want to hurt my feelings. But you always keep saying things that contradict it.”

Hux looks onto his hands. Suddenly he can’t stand Ben’s intent gaze on himself any longer. 

“So it was you…” he mumbles, “the Valentine card.”

“I thought you never got it,” Ben frowns, and hisses in pain, “it couldn’t have been more obvious.”

“Apparently it could have.”

“You don’t write your name on a Valentine card, and that’s about the only thing I didn’t put there,” Ben points out. He reaches for Hux but his fingers hover a few inches above Hux’s hands. 

“It did sound familiar,” Hux admits, “but I thought it was wishful thinking. I wanted it to be from you  _ so much _ .”

“You’re so weird, Hux,” Ben chuckles, “normal people see invitations where they aren’t, and you deny it to yourself even if it’s obvious.”

“You talk too much,” Hux mumbles again and finally looks up again. 

“Really.”

Hux closes the distance between them and stares into Ben’s eyes expectantly. They watch each other, trembling with anticipation. Suddenly Ben giggles and looks down. It startles Hux, who does the same.

“I...um… I can't think of anything to say,” Ben mumbles.

“Hmm,” Hux nods, “me neither.”

“That must be a first.”

They look up again, both flushed, and smile. And then they’re kissing. It's unclear which of them initiated it, and maybe they both did. Hux buries his hands in Ben's hair and sighs happily; he’s wanted to do this for months. 

“Ow,” Ben gasps as Hux irritates his split lip. They pull apart and Hux studies Ben’s face with worry. 

“Ew, your blood tastes awful,” he points out when he sees Ben is alright. 

“I'm sorry, I’ll try to eat more sugar to have sweeter blood for you,” Ben japes.

“Idiot,” Hux mumbles and punches Ben’s shoulder slightly, unsure what to do with his hands. 

“Likewise.”

  
  



End file.
